Tulip clips are often used in high power electrical apparatus such as circuit breakers having current ratings in excess of 2,000 amperes. Ohmic losses in such apparatus, attributable to contact resistance between the fingers of the tulip clips and the conductor engaged in the tulip clip, can be quite significant and are highly undesirable. In an effort to restrict these losses to acceptable levels, prior art tulip clips have been designed to maximize the surface contact between the conductor engaged by the tulip clip and the fingers of the tulip clip itself. The standard procedure for maximizing surface contact between these elements has been to bend or mill the fingers of the clip to form a circumferential arc in the clip which conforms to the surface of the conductive element engaged thereby. Tulip clips of the foregoing type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,806,768 and 3,909,571.
While the foregoing structure has satisfactorily reduced ohmic losses to acceptable levels, it has necessitated a separate machining operation to form the desired circumferential bend. Such operations are costly and result in waste of material.